Officials dispel hospital beauty salon claims

Officials from both the health department and the hospital will announce findings after investigation of the so-called hospital beauty salon at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center."We're talking about a bottle of polish, a nail file and a pair of tweezers," said Carol Meyer, chief of health services. "We do not condone this kind of activity ? but our investigation has made it very clear that this kind of activity at the level of a beauty salon is not going on in this facility.

The complaints were serious and shocking. The allegations were that there was a beauty salon being at the hospital inside an intensive care unit where babies were being treated.

The anonymous complaints were filed with the joint commission that accredits the hospital. The reports include allegations that nurses and doctors got manicures and their eyebrows waxed with the salon tools often resting on medical devices.

Once the county received the complaints, it launched an investigation. County health officials said they've interviewed about 80 staff members and feel that it was not nearly as serious as the rumors made it seem.

According to investigators, there was some truth to the rumors. Hospital staff was providing nail service and even tweezing eyebrows on the premises. But it wasn't in an intensive care unit, and for the most part, it did not take place during working hours.

"The majority of these activities occurred off-duty or on breaks, and it occurred with a small number of employees," Meyer said.

The employees involved could be facing disciplinary action.

Hospital officials said in their investigation, they did not find any case where patient care was compromised.